Lowball Poker Hand Rankings
Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is a lowball form of poker in which the worst traditional poker hands are actually the best. Straights, flushes and pairs all count against you in Deuce to Seven and aces always count as high. The best hand in 2-7 Triple Draw is 2-3-4-5-7 with all five of the cards not being the same suit.
Because straights count against you, the hand 2-3-4-5-6 is quite weak even though it contains low cards. In this example, the hand A-Q-K-J-9 is better than 2-3-4-5-6 because the ace-high hand does not contain a straight. Also note that the hand A-2-3-4-5 does not count as a straight because aces are always high in Deuce to Seven.
- 2-3-4-5-7
- 2-3-4-6-7
- 2-3-5-6-7
- 2-4-5-6-7
- 2-3-4-5-8
Also keep in mind that Deuce to Seven Triple Draw hands are ranked from the highest card down when determining the winner. So if there are two hands in which the highest card is a 7, the second highest card is looked at to determine the winner. If that card is also the same in both hands, the third highest card is looked – and so on down the line. Hands that are identical all the way down will simply split the pot.
This is an easy rule to confuse because some hands may contain a bunch of low cards but if just one card is higher than the cards in an opposing hand, the hand with the highest card will lose.
For example, 2-3-4-5-A would lose to 5-6-7-8-T because the first hand has an Ace high. (Remember; aces always count as high). Neither hand is very strong but the hand with the ten high is significantly better than the hand with the ace high.
Hand rankings are completely opposite to those in traditional poker games so the worst possible hand in Deuce to Seven is the Royal Flush. All hands containing flushes, straights and pairs are weak hands in 2-7 Triple Draw.
For a complete rundown of the rules of 2-7 Triple Draw, check out this article: